Get Started for FREE
Sign up with Facebook Sign up with X
I don't have a Facebook or a X account
 Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
An Uncertain Future: New Entrants In The #Food #Delivery Space Decline As Existing Startups Struggle
Maple's acquisition and Munchery's recapitalization highlight challenges in food delivery, with fewer fundings, increased M&A activity, and some companies ceasing operation. 
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scoop.it!
The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, droid delivery systems, mobile wallets and in-store gardens should be on every grocer’s radar in the year ahead.
Farid Mheir's insight:
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT WE always think of grocery as non technical and very hands-on, touchy-feely. This is becoming less and less so, a testament of the profound impact that digital technologies are having in our society at large.
Scoop.it!
Unleash the bots! Automation has emerged as a critical issue in the US following a 2016 election that focused largely on jobs and plans to save them. Though a significant amount of attention has been directed towards autonomous driving as a potential job killer, specifically for long-haul trucking, delivery robots appear poised to go mainstream much sooner.
Farid Mheir's insight:
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT We think of robots as fixed machines that assemble cars. However, with the advances in autonomous driving we may see an explosion of delivery robots. We have seen experiments with the use of drones to deliver products (Amazon and others) and now we are seeing self driving robots appear on the streets as it is much easier to get permits for those than it is for flying objects that can crash and hurt people. This is important because delivery remains the Achille's heel of eCommerce (slow, expensive): whoever cracks this problem and comes up with a low cost and economical solution will make a killing.
Scoop.it!
With the recent announcement of Amazon Flex and rumblings about Uber expanding into delivery, all eyes are looking at the category, wondering who will win?
Farid Mheir's insight:
Some interesting nuggets in this article: - pareto applies: 97% of eCommerce sales (295B$ of 304B$) come from 500 retailers only - shipping is marketing: Amazon recognized that free 2-day shipping for Prime customers makes for a fabulous customer acquisition tool, therefore it considers shipping a marketing cost. Plus you'll read about all the different shipping services available today.
Immigration Overseas Reviews with No Complaints,'s comment,
October 21, 2015 6:06 AM
Great Information
Scoop.it!
Amazon's drive for global domination took on a new dimension today with the news that the world's largest online retailer now owns a day of the week.
Farid Mheir's insight:
Very cool piece on another digital flip, or how digital is transforming an industry. In this case, delivery services. The US post office - like all other post office service in the world - has seen shrinking volume of letters, mostly due to the prevalence of email in today's world. What if this marks the start of subsidized parcel delivery? As it was for letters, we could see this mark the beginning of an affordable parcel delivery, even in remote areas of the country. In the US it would be good. In Canada, it would be great and is pretty much essential, as the cost to deliver packages is astronomical. Also consider reading this piece in the Washington Post where they rightfully point out that this use of a government body by a private sector company is something relatively new they label "reverse contracting". Amazon’s brilliant plan to rescue the Postal Service and disrupt the shipping industry
Scoop.it!
The proper URL is
Farid Mheir's insight:
No surprise: customers are not willing to pay for delivery and they don't care much about same-day delivery. What is interesting is the analysis that this may provide an edge to traditional retailers, as they already have a network of stores close to where their customers are. Booz adequately stresses the need for retailers to transform their business in order to offer order delivery. The changes are profound as they impact not only technology but processes and people as well, which rarely like change... I believe Booz may have forgotten to mention that order pickup in stores may actually provide a better alternative than delivery does. That being said, the transform is as important for pickup as it is for delivery. Moreover, the analysis misses one key element I believe: delivery (or pickup) adds costs that traditional retailers did not have before online shopping. That places them at cost disadvantage over online pure plays (even if those pure plays open distribution centers, as they will target lower cost facilities that are perfectly suited for delivery or pickup).
Scoop.it!
With the Google Maps API, you can build powerful applications that track assets, alert based on geofences, and geolocate devices, all delivered through the familiar Google Maps interface. Find out how DHL streamlines their package delivery process using the Google Maps API.
Farid Mheir's insight:
If it is good enough for DHL to track its parcels and deliveries, or for Swiss railways to show the positions of their train in realtime, then why would it not be good enough for
In fact, any business that needs to track, inventory or display assets on a map must absolutely look into the google maps API and other solutions.
Scoop.it!
Everyone wants to know what Google Glass is good for. I've figured it out: It's the killer app for your car.
Farid Mheir's insight:
I think of delivery services but also of sales reps, and how glass could transform their daily lives. All the technologies have been there for a while - GPS, cell phone, live traffic feeds, detailed maps - but what glass does is change the proximity, from something that you have - in-car garmin GPS - or that you carry - Android cell phone - to something that you constantly wear and have in front of your eyes - litterally.
Scoop.it!
Self-driving cars, computerized glass, search, mobile phones, and... local delivery?
Farid Mheir's insight:
Also read Michael Elling comment and look back at my previous post which basically said that customers do not want same-day delivery. That being said, there may be other good reasons why Google would like to enter same-day delivery: google self-driving cars. Google has a unique technology that can totally disrupt same-day deliveries by putting self-driving delivery vans on the streets. With those the economic model of same-day may become profitable. Moreover, Google may want to partner with local delivery firms, providing them with the infrastructure - Internet service plus self-driving tech - and let them go their way. They remain, after all, an engineering company.
Scoop.it!
Athens NEWS Judge: GPS tracking evidence can be used in burglary case Athens NEWS The Athens County Prosecutor's office claims that a Nelsonville man who's charged with a string of burglaries made the rather serious mistake of committing them while...
Farid Mheir's insight:
This guys was wearing an anckle bracelet but we can easily apply the same process to cell phones and apply the same principle to employees that are suspected of theft or of not being where they are supposed to be. For now, access to the GPS data in cell phones is a bit cumbersome but I would expect that digital businesses may require their employees to add special tracking apps in their phones - especially company-provided ones - and keep a record of their personnel.
|
Curated by Farid Mheir
Get every post weekly in your inbox by registering here: http://fmcs.digital/newsletter-signup/
|
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
The first question a good friend of mine always asks when I come to her with this great new idea (and it happens more often than not) is: "how are you going to make money?". And she is right: if the business model is not there, then no matter how much funding you get at some point in time, you will run out and will have to close. Simple. But frustrating for an entrepreneur to hear because my ideas are so great...!
That being said, I am old enough to remember the dotcom bust in 2000 and the various same-day delivery outfits that folded. Because they did not have a viable business model. So it may seem that the same has repeated here with one difference: the market is much larger than in 2000. Thus there may be some niche markets or geo that provide sufficient margins to make this a money making business. All others, see you next time.
I wrote about possible doom of same day delivery in the past so you can verify that I am not just saying in retrospect but that I called the shot years ago (earliest post is in 2013).
- first warning in 2013: http://sco.lt/6nkd4z
- same day delivery: http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses?q=same+day+delivery
- food delivery: http://sco.lt/8tvFnl
- same day not good, next day is great: http://sco.lt/4wpmQT
- google same day not a great idea: http://sco.lt/67V5iz